New Development in Booth Case Coming Soon

[Steve Whitlock]

[quote='Steve' pid='77533' dateline='1561383542']
I found a copy of this John Wilkes Booth (d. 1916) obituary. It says that he was the son of Junius Brutus Booth Jr., the assassin John Wilkes Booth's older brother. Now I checked and Junius Jr. had no son born in 1848 to his first wife Clementina and there is no son named John living with Clementina in the 1850 census in Massachusetts. Junius Jr. would a few years later abandon his wife and daughter to go west with his mistress, Harriet Mace out in California where they would go on living with Harriet as if they were married. So I guess it's possible that Junius could have had another mistress and baby before meeting Harriet?

Laura Ida Booth was six when her mother died, if her mother told Laura, as she was dying, that her father was named John Wilkes Booth and that he was the son of actor Junius Brutus Booth it's pretty easy to see how Laura could've become confused about what she meant trying to remember it years later. Of course, that doesn't actually prove this John Wilkes Booth is actually the son of Junius Brutus Booth Jr.

I hadn't seen the articles you posted when I made my last reply, enen tho they were added to my message. If the article is correct this John Wilkes Booth was first married to Ida Zeuraze who died in 1872. There are no record for an Ida Zeuraze at ancestry.com. I'm getting the feeling this is not the John W. Booth that married Louisa J. Payne. I'm also not certain how accurate the obit is for John Wilkes Booth 1848-1916.

Still, that's great work on your part getting it.